Lawrence distinguished himself in the war with Tripoli. He was second in command in a boat attack that burned several feluccas on shore near Tripoli, and he saw close action against a 22-gun corsair. He was Stephen Decatur's (1779-1820) first lieutenant in the ketch Intrepid's successful mission (16 Feb. 1804) to destroy the U.S. ship of the line Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans. Lawrence declined as insignificant the award of two month's pay that Congress voted the Intrepid's officers. He commanded the Enterprise and gunboat Number 5 in several attacks on Tripoli that summer. Made first lieutenant of the frigate John Adams, he returned to the United States, arriving in March 1805. In May he sailed the 72-foot gunboat Number 6 across the Atlantic for Syracuse, Italy. At Cádiz, in the presence of the British fleet, he was forced, under protest, to release three crew members who claimed protection of the British flag.

In 1807 Lawrence oversaw the transfer of gunboats built at Portland, Maine, to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he was stationed for a time. In January 1808 he sat as a member of the court-martial on the Chesapeake-Leopard affair. That same year he married Julia Montaudevert; they had two children, the second born after Lawrence's death. He was first lieutenant of the frigate Constitution for six months and then commanded in succession the brig Vixen, the sloop Wasp, and the brig Argus. In 1810, participating in trials of Robert Fulton's experimental spar-torpedo, he used antiboarding netting to foil its effect. On 3 November 1810 he was promoted to master commandant. In November 1811, in command of the sloop of war Hornet, he carried to Europe diplomatic messengers who vainly sought to accommodate America's differences with England and France.

The outbreak of the War of 1812 found Lawrence at New York in command of Hornet, part of Commodore John Rodgers's (1773-1838) squadron. The squadron set sail on 21 June and returned after a lackluster cruise of two months. Late in October Hornet sailed in company with Constitution on a cruise off Brazil. At Bahia Lawrence discovered the British sloop of war Bonne Citoyenne, laden with £50,000 in specie. The Royal Navy commander ignored Lawrence's challenge to duel ship to ship, and Hornet blockaded the Bonne Citoyenne in port. Constitution, having met and destroyed the HMS Java, had departed for the United States when the British ship of the line Montagu appeared off Bahia. Lawrence promptly broke off his blockade and sailed north. Continuing the cruise off South America, Hornet captured the ten-gun merchant brig Resolution. On 24 February 1813, off the Demerara River, Hornet took the Royal Navy brig-sloop Peacock in a short engagement. Hornet suffered few damages or casualties, but Peacock was so badly shattered that it sank during the transfer of prisoners.

Sailing Hornet into New York Harbor on 24 March, Lawrence was received as a hero and learned that he had been posted captain three weeks earlier, before his victory over Peacock was known in Washington. Earlier he had protested the promotion of Lieutenant Charles Morris to the rank of captain over the heads of all the masters commandant. When the secretary of the navy responded coldly to Lawrence's hint of resignation, Lawrence appealed to Congress. Congress postponed Morris's promotion until after Lawrence's, 4 March 1813.

Lawrence took command of the Chesapeake in Boston on 20 May with orders for a cruise. On the morning of 1 June, when Chesapeake was ready to sail, the Shannon, then the sole British vessel blockading Boston Harbor, appeared off Boston Lighthouse. Captain Philip Broke, in command of Shannon for seven years, had thoroughly drilled the crew in gunnery. Confident of victory, he sent Lawrence a written challenge. Before receiving the challenge, however, Lawrence sailed, flying his battle flag with its motto "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights."

Broke withdrew into the open sea and then allowed his ship to lay nearly dead in the water so that the Chesapeake could overtake it. Instead of seizing the opportunity this offered of crossing Shannon's stern and raking it the length of its deck, Lawrence maneuvered Chesapeake alongside to fight yardarm to yardarm. The Chesapeake's gunfire was rapid and accurate, striking the Shannon mainly in the hull. However, the Shannon's gunfire was more rapid and accurate as well as deadlier, disabling Chesapeake's rigging and helm, sweeping through the men on deck, and incapacitating the senior officers. A pistol ball entered Lawrence's leg below the knee early in the action, and shortly thereafter a musket ball struck him above the groin. As he was carried below, he gave the famous order, "Don't give up the ship."¹ Chesapeake's men, nonetheless, gave way before Shannon's boarders, who quickly won control of the American  frigate. Third Lieutenant William Cox was blamed for the loss of the ship because he left his post to carry Captain Lawrence, who was mortally wounded, below. Cox was court-martialed, and cashiered from the Navy. In 1952 Congress passed a bill nullifying the court-martial decision.* The entire action lasted a mere quarter of an hour.

Had he heeded the strategic thought of the secretary of the navy, who wanted the seagoing fleet to destroy enemy commerce, not fight Royal Navy warships, Lawrence would have eluded the blockading forces, as had other naval commanders. Nevertheless, the relative equality of force of Chesapeake and Shannon did not make his seeking battle so rash as its outcome makes it now seem.

Lawrence died of his wounds on board Chesapeake at sea, as the British sailed their prize toward Halifax, where they buried Lawrence's body with military honors. Afterward, his corpse was transferred, by a flag of truce, to New York, where it was interred on 16 September. Tenacious of his rights, Lawrence was motivated throughout his career by concern for his reputation, professional pride, and devotion to duty and honor.

1 Although Chesapeake was forced to surrender, Captain Lawrence's words lived on as a rallying cry during the war. Oliver Hazard Perry honored his dead friend Lawrence when he had the motto sewn onto the private battle flag flown during the Battle of Lake Erie, 10 September 1813. (William S. Dudley, ed., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History [Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1992] 2: 559) from Naval History Center

Bibliography

The chief primary sources for Lawrence's career are in the National Archives, Washington, D.C., Record Group 45, in particular in the correspondence of the secretary of the navy. Published documentation of Lawrence's participation in three wars can be found in U.S. Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France: Naval Operations from February 1797 to December 1801, comp. Dudley W. Knox (7 vols., 1935-1983); U.S. Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers: Naval Operations Including Diplomatic Background from 1785 through 1807, comp. Dudley W. Knox (6 vols., 1939-1944); and William S. Dudley et al., eds., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, vol. 1, 1812, and vol. 2, 1813 (1985-1992). The standard biography is Albert Gleaves, James Lawrence, Captain, United States Navy, Commander of the "  Chesapeake" (1904). The most thorough analysis of the Chesapeake-Shannon engagement is in Peter Padfield, Broke and the Shannon (1968). See also H. F. Pullen, The Shannon and the  Chesapeake (1970).

Michael J. Crawford

Citation:
Michael J. Crawford. "Lawrence, James";
http://www.anb.org/articles/02/02-00207.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Sat Apr 29 09:08:18 EDT 2000
Copyright © 2000 American Council of Learned Societies. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.